I have to be honest and say that chow mein is definitely not a favourite meal of mine. But, my hubby loves it... so I make it occasionally (just to be nice!!). I usually make my chow mein on the stovetop, but really wanted to try it in the Thermomix. I'd checked out a few recipes on the recipe community and most of them had comments about it being too watery or the mince not being chunky enough.
Let's face it, when you're using mince in the Thermomix, it really does tend to cook into a bit of a mush. There's not really any way around that. The only ting you can do, is to mince your own beef and leave it really chunky. For this recipe, I used bought mince and so of course, it was quite a fine texture.
If you're going for a chunkier texture, you might also like to chop your vegetables by hand, rather than using the Thermomix. I wasn't too fussed and chopped all of mine (except for the cabbage) in the Thermie and it was fine! Just a few quick presses of Turbo is all it needs though.
I prefer chow mein to be quite thick and so I reduced the amount of water that a few of the other recipes had used. If you like yours to be a bit more watery then perhaps add in a little extra water. But if you're like us and serve it on toast, then thick is the way to go... because no one likes soggy toast!
But the main trick to getting your Thermomix chow mein to thicken up is to pop it into the ThermoServer for 10-15 minutes before serving it up. This made a HUGE difference to ours. It's a little bit like Thermomix risotto - it really comes into it's own after sitting in the ThermoServer for a little while.
And so while I still don't particularly love chow mein, this Thermomix version got the thumbs up from my hubby.
Thermomix Chow Mein
Ingredients
- 80 grams brown onion halved
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbs ginger finely minced
- 80 grams carrots roughly chopped
- 2 tbs oil
- 500 g beef mince
- 300 ml water
- 2 tbs cornflour
- 2 teaspoon curry powder (more or less depending on your taste preferences)
- 1 teaspoon veg stock concentrate
- ⅓ cup oyster sauce
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- ½ cabbage shredded
- 350 g Singapore noodles or thin hokkien noodles
Instructions
- Place the garlic and brown onion into the TM bowl and chop on Speed 6 for 5 seconds.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the carrot and chop by pressing Turbo 4-5 times (or until it's the chunkiness you desire).
- Add the minced ginger and the oil.
- Saute on Varoma, Reverse Speed 2 for 4 minutes.
- Add the beef mince and cook on Varoma, Reverse Speed 2 for 4 minutes.
- Mix the cornflour and water together until no lumps remain.
- Add the cornflour mixture, curry powder, vegetable stock, oyster sauce, soy sauce and the cabbage to the bowl.
- Cook on 100 degrees, Reverse Speed 1 for 4 minutes (you'll need to use the spatula to push the cabbage down).
- Meanwhile place the noodles into the ThermoServer and cover with boiling water (time will be specified on the packet).
- Drain the noodles and add to the TM bowl.
- Mix on Reverse Speed 2 for 1 minute (using the spatula to help mix everything together).
- Place into the ThermoServer and leave for 10-15 minutes to thicken.
- Serve with a little extra soy sauce, sesame seeds or chopped peanuts.
Nutrition
rob says
Followed everything except the beef, and it was excellent!